Hi everyone! I'm able to post at last!

Hello everyone!  Thanks to everyone for making me
feel welcomed in this list.  I've been tryin to post
here for the longest time. Well, actually, I had a
hard time posting because I subscribed first through
egroups.  Then I found out that it's better if I
subscribe through Brown University.  While I was
sorting out my problems with my account at Brown
Univ., I started to undergo through some emotional
stress regarding my job.  Well, it's a long story, but
now it's starting to be better, so now I'm quite fine.


Let me introduce myself.  I'm a 23-year old Filipino
boy who moved here to Chicago last year.  I grew up in
Quezon City, Philippines, so my native language is
Tagalog.  As Kristian has already told you, I have a
hobby, and that is making my own conlang called Yat,
and Yatland is the name of my imaginary country where
Yat is spoken.  Yatland is an island country 225 miles
east of the Chinese coast, so it's kinda juxtaposed on
the Okinawan islands.  As been said before, I strive
to make my imaginary country to be a reflection of me.
 I found this location for my country convenient
because, physically, I look like a person from that
area, "linguistically" I talk with my vowels
unrounded,that's why Yat draws heavily from the
Austro-Asiatic language family, Japanese, Thai and the
Austronesian family. And Yat sounds a little Japanese
too, with a little Thai and Cambodian and Ilocano and
Itawes...


As for Japanese, it's very true that it only has one
rounded back vowel. In some Japanese dialects,
however, the rounded o isn't rounded, so there are
actually parts in Japan where they don't have a
single rounded back vowel.  Considerable literature
have been written about the reasons why Japanese don't
round their vowels, and not only this, they also have
a tendency away from using consonants which involve
lip movement, such as a shift from p to h in the
language, for the past 1000 years.  It has been
written that it could be a reflection of the Japanese
character to avoid showing their feelings outwardly,
and it has also been said that this phenomenon has its
roots from the Kyoto court during the Heian period
when it was considered kinda rude for people in the
court to use considerable lip movement in their
speech.  Well, these are just some of the things I
have read regarding Japanese.

I have joined a program in college where I was able to
stay with a Japanese family for a month because I was
thinking then that this could be a possible source of
new information for making my imaginary country, and
I've been reading a lot of books concerning Asian
countries for the same purpose too.


As for my first name, I know it's a French name, but
I'm sure I don't have French ancestry.  My parents
just liked the name, that's why I have a French first
name.  I've been to Quebec,though, and people were
intrigued whenever they find out that I have a French
first name with an Asian face.  In the Philippines, I
usually wrote my name as André (using alt-130 for the
é) because all the Andre's I know there wrote their
names this way, but since I moved here to Chicago, I
simply write my name Andre since I feel that Americans
have some trouble with the é. There is a consonant in
French which Yat also has. It's the French r, which is
pronounced using the uvula, or whatever its called.
Actually, this sound is originally from the Yat
dialect in the southwest side of the country, but it
has spread to a large part of the country. I'm also
part of the conculture and the anthropology list. With
the anthro list, nothing much is happening, except for
occasional postings by some members who give the
website addresses of some articles that deal with
anthropology.

Nice to meet all of you! :-)


Andre


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